


what’s love without explosions and giant robots (and food and cuddles)

by juurensha



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Fluff, Food as a Metaphor for Love, Gen, M/M, Mecha, Mutual Pining, Rebuilding, Roommates, Sharing Body Heat, Sharing a Bed, everyone is trying their best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-28
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2021-01-06 00:57:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21217916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juurensha/pseuds/juurensha
Summary: Someone as direct as Galo would have already said something by now if he was interested in Lio that way.In fact, Lio wouldn’t be surprised if Galo thought love confessions were only properly done with fireworks, long speeches, detailed holographic powerpoints, obnoxious pet names, and copious amounts of burning passion, whatever that would entail in that scenario.If Galo actually did so—Well, Lio wouldn’t be opposed, although he’d still draw the line at pet names.As it stood though—it’s fine, Lio is too busy anyway.





	what’s love without explosions and giant robots (and food and cuddles)

**Author's Note:**

> So I went into this movie knowing that I would probably write fic for it, so I had to remember as much of it as possible since I was only going to get to see it in theaters once, and let me tell you, it did not disappoint. I spent a long time finding Lio's theme music and just blasting it because it's amazing, and writing this fic. It's definitely very tropey, but I hope you enjoy it anyway!

You would think that cleaning up and rebuilding a city couldn’t be possibly as hard as hiding and protecting a hunted group of people who had had to burn bright, but Lio soon learns differently.

Just because there were no more Burnish didn’t mean that there wasn’t still a large group of dispossessed people who had been on the run or hiding for so long and who generally speaking didn’t have stable housing or jobs.

Neither did Lio exactly (crashing in Galo’s apartment wasn’t exactly a permanent solution), but he was still going to use any pull he had as one of the saviors of the world to help out his people in any way he could.

He may not have any of his Burnish flames anymore (and wasn’t that strange to find out that all along he had been resonating with some kind of being of fire from another dimension and then to have such a defining part of himself just disappear), but he still had Gueira and Meis, as loyal as ever, and somewhat surprisingly, he also had the support of Burning Rescue.

(He suspects that Galo made an impassioned speech to them, but his people need all the help they can get, so he can put up with that.)

Still, that didn’t mean that his days were now easy and carefree. It’s still a lot of staring down politicians and landlords, while also trying to help with the rebuilding of the city. There’s definitely more paperwork involved than there had been before (on the plus side, many people are immigrating to the restored lands), and sometimes when Lio closes his eyes, he can still see the words of the official forms swimming across his eyelids.

He has one stack of forms tucked underneath his arm and a couple of folders of completed forms stuffed into his bag when he manages to unlock the door of Galo’s apartment and stumble in.

(It had been a long day that had started with a meeting that had devolved into a shouting match with the Department of Labor secretary, had stretched through visiting a repair site and convincing some of his more hesitant brethren to help out, and ended with a whole stack of new forms that had to be filled out so that the people who wanted to rebuild in the desert could do so.

He was ready to just collapse in bed and just maybe not think for a few minutes.)

The first thing he sees however, is Galo sitting at the kitchen table, grinning at him.

(Originally, when Galo had offered up his own apartment and bedroom to Lio, he had said that he was over at the fire station more often than not, and he could just crash on the couch when he was actually at home.

Yet, maybe it’s the odd hours both Lio and Galo keep, but Lio has found that it’s extremely rare for him to be in this apartment and for Galo not to be there as well.

It’s—not necessarily a  _ bad  _ thing.

Lio is used to staying in Burnish compounds where everyone is crowded together and there is a constant chatter in the air. Being just by himself is—eerie. It’s not too bad to have Galo around, talking his ear off.

However, today he could use some peace and quiet.)

“Not now Galo,” Lio snaps, shoving his files onto the table. “I’m really tired, and I’m just going to go to sleep. The day I had—”

“I heard!” Galo beams. “You called the Secretary of Labor a giant turd!”

“…in slightly different words, but yes,” Lio admits.

(To be more precise, he had called him a giant piece of excrement that would be more useful as fertilizer, but the man had been simply awful, leering at him, dismissive of his ideas to reintroduce more former Burnish back into the workforce, and spewing hateful rhetoric.

Really, it was lucky he had gone himself and hadn’t sent Gueira , because that probably would have ended with the secretary getting his nose broken. Or bringing Meis with him for that matter, because that meeting wouldn’t have ended without the secretary in tears about all the blackmail Meis had somehow gleaned on him.

Actually scratch that, he probably should have sent Meis instead.)

“Still, the passion and guts that took!” Galo says, clenching his fist. “You’re definitely making a mark!”

“Possibly not the one I wanted to initially make,” Lio points out dryly.

“That guy’s an asshole, he definitely deserved it,” Galo says decidedly. “Did you manage to get in your idea about getting some of your people in to look over the lab?”

“Your chief helped back me up on that idea, so yes,” Lio replies, sitting down in the other chair. “Do thank him for me.”

Galo leans back and grins, “Good old Ignis. They’re talking about making him governor.”

“Well, he’ll certainly be better than the last one,” Lio says darkly.

Galo grimaces and shrugs, “Yeah, that’s for sure. Anyway—eat something before you sleep.”

“I—suppose,” Lio says, glancing at his pile of paperwork. “I could also work on some of that while eating…”

“I’d offer to help with all the paperwork, but I think I would just mess it up,” Galo says, scratching his head.

“This is true.”

“Hey! See if I give this to you now!” Galo says, tapping on a white cardboard box that he brought out from under the table.

Lio sucks in a breath, noticing the happy cat logo on the box, “Is that from—”

“Meow Meow Café? Yeah it is, and I also got you your favorite!” Galo says, opening the box to reveal a set of cinnamon and apple-studded muffins that smelled like the best parts of fall.

Lio immediately snatches a muffin and practically inhaled it, “How did you know this was my favorite?” he asks curiously, reaching for a second one.

“You ate an entire plate of them when you visited the station and we had just gotten a few boxes as a reward,” Galo says, surrendering the box and seemingly happy just watching him eat.

“I thought you were busy with Lucia’s new invention she wanted to show you,” Lio says, considering whether or not eating a fourth muffin would be excessive.

(After the day he had?

He thinks not.)

“Never too busy for you,” Galo replies with a grin.

Lio pauses, glancing at Galo, but he’s already meandered over to the fridge to pull out some leftover pizza.

“You want any?” he asks, noticing Lio’s gaze.

Lio waves a hand dismissively, “I’m good,” he says as he finishes off his fourth muffin.

(He’s definitely overthinking it.

Someone as direct as Galo would have already said something by now if he was interested in Lio that way.

In fact, Lio wouldn’t be surprised if Galo thought love confessions were only properly done with fireworks, long speeches, detailed holographic powerpoints, obnoxious pet names, and copious amounts of burning passion, whatever that would entail in that scenario.

If Galo actually did so—

Well, Lio wouldn’t be opposed, although he’d still draw the line at pet names.

As it stood though—it’s fine, Lio is too busy anyway.)

“Hey, hey, no falling asleep at the kitchen table,” Galo says, placing his plate on the table and knocking Lio out of his own thoughts. “Go shower and sleep in an actual bed.”

“The couch is closer,” Lio argues, glancing over at the worn couch that had Galo’s pillows and blankets thrown haphazardly all over it.

“Guests get the bed!” Galo retorts, as he always does, as he kicks at Lio’s chair.

“I—suppose,” Lio gives in, standing up and rubbing at his arms (he’s not exactly cold, it’s just—he and the rest of the Burnish had been used to being hosts for fire for so long that—it’s strange to no longer feel that heat inside).

“Are you cold?” Galo asks, brow furrowing. “Do you need more blankets—”

“I’m pretty sure you’re down to your last one,” Lio says, walking towards the bedroom. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”

(A nice hot shower and then the blissful oblivion of sleep before he has to deal with yet another day of bureaucratic hell.

It almost made him miss being the hunted leader of a supposed terrorist organization.

Still—it was nice to be able to actually have a somewhat stable place to stay now along with a new friend.

He’ll—be really sad whenever he has to move out of Galo’s apartment.)

\--

The immigration process for the Burnish who want to go back to the restored lands is going well, as is the process for revamping and repurposing Kray Foresight’s awful ship, but that also means that there are a shit-ton of forms and approvals to fill out.

They’ve worked through most of the approvals, and now it’s mostly down to just helping people fill out all the necessary forms.

There were a great many people who were simply overwhelmed from either trauma, the stress of reintegrating into society, taking care of their families, or some combination of those and other factors to really properly fill out all the forms, so Lio had volunteered the former Mad Burnish to do it.

Around 1 in the morning, he was somewhat regretting that decision.

“I swear it’s all reproducing when we’re not looking,” Gueira groans, thumping his head against yet another pile of papers. “I feel like there’s more than when we started.”

“It’s because you keep throwing your stuff into piles instead of stacking them,” Meis scolds, neatly straightening out his own pristine stack of forms.

“Didn’t they say they were trying to go green and digitize everything?” Gueira whines. “Why is there still so much?”

“Official stamps and seals and handwritten signatures are needed when money is involved,” Lio says in an exhausted tone as he finishes checking over another form and rubs his eyes.

“Boss, maybe you should take a break,” Meis says quietly.

Lio glares at Meis and gestures around the room, “We still have this much work to do, and you want me to take a break?”

“You should at least get something to eat, boss!” Gueira says. “Pretty sure you skipped dinner again—”

“We don’t have time to go out and get something to eat,” Lio says dismissively, grabbing another form, “The space ship forms have to be submitted by tomorrow at noon, or else we’ll have to go through this entire process again—”

“Pizza delivery!” an incongruously cheerful voice sounds out.

The three of them turn around and shift past the piles of paperwork to see two pizza delivery men hauling in stacks of pizzas.

Lio frowns, “I believe there’s been a mistake, we didn’t order anything—”

“A Mr. Galo Thymos did instead,” the head pizza deliveryman replies with a smile. “He said to tell you that even if he has no idea how to help you fill out all the paperwork, you should at least not do it on an empty stomach since you probably skipped dinner again. Oh, and don’t worry about paying, he already did.”

(He should be too tired to have any kind of reaction, but instead there is a happy fluttering sensation in his chest that he quickly smothers.

Galo probably thought that a meeting wasn’t a meeting without a giant stack of pizzas like the way Burning Rescue tended to do meetings.)

They still tip them of course, and at the end, they’re left with a stack of thirty boxes of pizza.

“How many people does Galo think are working here? Fifty?” Gueira asks, opening one box and releasing the fragrant scent of pepperoni and cheese.

“He usually can put away four or five just on his own,” Lio sighs. “Let’s eat, and then you guys can take whatever leftovers you want, and I’ll take the rest back to him.”

“This was nice of him,” Meis hums as he digs into some four-cheese pizza.

“Yeah,” Lio admits, biting into his own piece of supreme pizza (his stomach rumbles to life and informs him that it has been much neglected and demands more). “I thought he was on shift tonight.”

“And he still took time to take care of you! Well, now we definitely approve, right Meis?” Gueira elbows Meis with a laugh.

Meis nods, “Definitely.”

Lio rolls his eyes, grabbing another slice of pizza, “It’s not like that,” he says shortly.

He sees Gueira and Meis exchange looks over his head.

“…trouble in paradise, boss?” Gueira asks in what Lio knows he thinks is a delicate tone.

“We’re not together, and we’re not going out,” Lio clarifies, not looking up from his work. “And both of you can stop looking at me like that—it’s fine, we’re so busy anyway. When would I have time for something like that.”

“If you need some free time, Gueira and I can always manage on our own for a bit,” Meis offers quietly.

“Yeah! Just tell us when date night is and—”

“He hasn’t said anything, and—Galo’s not the kind of person who hides his feelings,” Lio cuts in. “Just—the forms aren’t going to fill themselves out, let’s keep working.”

Gueira and Meis bend their heads obediently over their stacks, but he can still hear them whispering to each other, so he pointedly focuses on trying to clear out the rest of his pile.

(He thinks—

He vaguely remembers the sensation of something soft pressing against his mouth and  _ heat  _ when he had been dying, and afterwards, piecing together the clues of his regenerated arm, the last bits of his flame that he had wrapped around Galo before being captured, and Galo’s red face and the way his hand had covered his mouth right after he had managed to sit up, he can guess what happened.

Still, it’s a very different thing to perform emergency mouth to mouth CPR/promare transfer and another thing to want to kiss someone.

He’d—like to do it again, this time actually conscious and able to respond to Galo’s touch.

Of course, if Galo doesn’t want to, then Lio won’t press him.

He’s already taken enough of Galo’s goodwill and efforts as it is.)

\--

Winter arrives, and Lio is completely unprepared.

To be fair, for years now, he’s never had to worry about the cold, his fires inside keeping him warm, and all the Burnish also a careful warm presence around them.

Now though, without his promare (he wonders if his is doing well in that alternate dimension), Lio can’t find enough sweaters and scarves and jackets to bundle himself in.

Galo takes one look at him and bursts out into laughter, doubling over in his mirth.

“You look like a cotton ball!” Galo howls, leaning against the wall.

Lio flushes, “And I see you still don’t know what a shirt is,” he fires back.

“My burning passion keeps me warm!” Galo declares, still slightly giggling as he hauls himself up.

Lio throws a jacket into his face, “Your burning passion isn’t going to keep you from getting frostbite or catching the flu,” he warns.

Galo shrugs, half-heartedly dragging on the jacket (it’s a bit of a pity honestly, but Galo shouldn’t get sick just for Lio’s viewing pleasure), before he peers more closely at Lio.

“Is that my sweatshirt?” he bluntly asks.

Lio wills himself not to blush (another thing he misses about his Burnish powers—he definitely didn’t used to blush), picking at the cuffs of the too large sleeves with his hands, “I—you weren’t using it.”

Galo laughs, “That’s true. Plus, I bet you couldn’t stuff yourself into your usual leather get-up with all those sweaters on, huh?”

“…maybe,” Lio admits.

(It’s better than admitting that somehow, despite the fact that Lio has yet to even  _ see  _ Galo wear a sweatshirt, it smells a bit like him and this apartment, and—

It’s kind of comforting in the bitter cold that Lio now has to endure.)

“You can keep it if you like, it suits you,” Galo says with a grin.

Lio coughs, covering up his face before Galo can see his expression (he—really does want to keep it).

“Still, are you still cold in here?” Galo asks, checking the thermostat of the apartment. “I turned the heater on, but I guess the apartment’s a bit drafty…”

“It’s fine,” Lio says dismissively, sitting on the couch and dragging a throw blanket over himself.

Galo looks at him contemplatively, “…are you cold in the bedroom too?”

Lio shrugs (when is he not cold these days?), “I’m fine,” he insists.

Lio can see the wheels churning arduously in Galo’s head before he picks up his comforter and pillow from the couch and starts walking over to the bedroom.

“…what are you doing?” Lio asks, following after him.

“I’ll go buy a space heater tomorrow, but for tonight you can just use me,” Galo says cheerfully, dumping his pillow and comforter onto the bed.

“ _ What? _ No, that’s—it’s your bed in the first place, if you want it back, I’ll just go sleep on the couch,” Lio says quickly (he’d  _ love  _ to have Galo in his bed, but—only if Galo understands what he’s getting into with him).

Galo gives him a flat look, “Are you stupid? The living room is definitely colder than here!”

“The bed’s not that big,” Lio says weakly.

“You’re tiny, we’ll fit,” Galo says easily, already lying down and opening up his arms, “Come on!”

In the end, Lio is only human (another thing to damn the promare for), and so he ends up curled up in Galo’s arms, trying not to enjoy the feeling of Galo’s chiseled chest and warm skin too much.

(It—really is nice though.

He’s only wearing a thin T-shirt and pajama pants, but he finally feels a cozy sense of warmth that drives away the chill that has been haunting him this entire time.

Even if he can’t think too hard about where the warmth is all coming from before suddenly feeling like he’s about to somehow overheat.)

“You good?” Galo asks, his voice a rumble right next to Lio’s ear.

“Yeah,” he mumbles into Galo’s chest (goddamnit, why are they so close?).

“You feel kind of tense,” Galo points out bluntly, big hand running up and down Lio’s back.

(And whose fault was that???

Was he—was he trying to imply something to Lio?

No, Galo didn’t know how to imply anything. If he had wanted something with Lio, he would have said something by now.

And the fact that he hadn’t meant that he obviously thought sharing a bed with him was no big deal.)

“I’m—fine,” Lio grits out, inching a bit away from Galo.

Galo’s brow furrows, “Well—okay. Good night Lio.”

“Good night Galo,” Lio says quietly, curling into his warmth.

(It was going to be a long night.)

\--

Galo bought a space heater that he placed in the bedroom, so Lio was now warm in the bedroom on his own, but as he curled up in the blankets, he couldn’t help but remember the way that Galo’s arms had wrapped around him, and the sheer heat and weight of his presence.

(This was starting to get ridiculous.

Lio’s been attracted to other people before, but this—

This is the man who had believed in him, who had saved him, who had fought with him, who had saved the world with him.

Of course he’s in love with him.

And Galo may be a giant idiot, but he had also quickly become one of Lio’s most important people, and—

And even if he didn’t seem to return Lio’s feelings, Lio will gladly take his friendship.

He probably needs to start seriously looking at apartment listings though since this cohabitation—it’s really starting to mess with his head.

He starting to see this place as a home, and he needs to leave before he gets more attached than he already is.)

He’s carefully reading through apartment listings and circling some of the more promising ones (his pay as Burning Rescue’s liaison was decent, and he doesn’t need anything too large) when Galo bounds over.

“Want to see something cool?” he asks, practically vibrating as he stands there, hands on his hips and staring at him eagerly.

Lio raises an eyebrow, carefully setting the listings facedown on the table, “Did Lucia upgrade your Matoi some more?”

“ _ Almost  _ as cool as that,” Galo amends, turning around and gesturing for him to follow, “Come on!”

Lio bemusedly follows Galo into Lucia’s workshop, carefully moving around the scattered half-assembled parts and random tools, “If it’s something that’s going to make Ignis mad, I’ll help you run but—”

He stands stock still at the sight of a gleaming black-purple metal mecha with spikes coming from its legs and head and a faceplate that looks like teeth. It looks—almost identical to the way he used to form his Burnish armor.

“We still had footage from your battle with Galo,” Lucia’s voice rings out from somewhere in the rafters. “I made it as close to specs as possible!”

He slowly moves closer, placing a hand on the armor and moving it across the polished dark metal. It almost feels warm to the touch.

“Is this—for me?” he asks haltingly, looking up at Galo.

Galo grins back at him, rocking back and forth on his heels, “Yep! I thought—well, you can’t make your armor yourself anymore, but you were so badass with it—and wait until you see the bike Lucia is working on to go with it!”

“Galo wasn’t supposed to bring you in until the bike was done too,” Lucia says, sulkily leaning down from her perch in the rafters.

“How could I wait? Look at that!” Galo says excitedly, pointing at the armor before looking again at Lio. “You—you like it right?”

(Galo had just given him a copy of the thing that he had forged from his own flames and soul, that he had fought in more times than he could count, and that he had thought lost to him forever now.

If he wasn’t already in love with him, he would be now.)

“I love it,” Lio manages to say, flipping the helmet up. “Help me put it on.”

Lucia in the end has to scramble down to help unlock the various latches and switches that hold the armor together (he’ll miss his flames creeping over himself to form the armor to fight in), and then he steps inside, the armor closes around him, and the interface in the helmet flickers on, and he sees Galo climbing into his own mecha and twirling his matoi around.

It’s—obviously not as intuitive as his old Burnish armor (that had literally been a part of him), but Lucia had done her best, and by the end of his first spar with Galo, he thinks he’s getting the hang of it.

“Nice!” Galo calls out when Lio lands a kick to his mecha’s head. “So I was thinking: your mecha needs a name—”

“No,” Lio interrupts, punching at his torso.

Galo catches his punch and tries to flip him, “I was thinking maybe like Lio Reborn? Or Dragon Reborn since you know that dragon you made was super scary, but it was also super cool—”

“ _ No _ , Galo,” Lio repeats, breaking out of his hold and ducking down to sweep Galo’s mecha’s feet from under him.

Galo lands with a thud, pouting up at him, “Awwwww, come on Lio, I didn’t even put any matois on your armor—”

“He actually was the one who pushed me to make it as close to the original as possible,” Lucia interjects, coming up to inspect Lio’s armor. “I could have added some cool stuff like lasers, but nooooo, he kept saying that he wanted it as close to what you remembered, because he’s—”

“Lucia!” Galo yells, hauling himself up and pointing at her, “You said you’d keep it a secret!”

Lucia shrugs, “Well he’s already seeing the armor, what does it matter if he knows the design process?”

She then turns toward Lio, peering up at him with a big grin, “Guess what my next big project is going to be!”

“Something that will make Ignis quietly wonder why he hasn’t retired yet,” Lio replies.

Lucia sticks her tongue out, “Mean! But possibly accurate. I’m going to try and build the Lio de Galon!”

Lio blinks, looking from Lucia to Galo, “But that’s—are you going to make it so that it can be piloted by one person—”

“No way!” Galo interrupts, getting out of his armor, “It definitely has to be piloted by you and me together!”

(He—

He really likes that idea.

Probably more than he should, but—he had liked the synchronistic flow of the Deus Ex Machina, and even if it can’t quite work like that anymore given his loss of powers, he thinks they could still pilot well together.

At the very least, he can knock some tactics into Galo’s head.)

“Alright. Let me know if you need any help with the designs,” Lio says, reluctantly getting out of his armor as well and letting his hand brush over the sides of it.

Galo notices his hesitance at leaving, “Don’t worry, it’ll be right here waiting for you,” he reassures him as they walk out. “It only fits you anyway!”

Lio glances at him as he gathers up the apartment listings he had left on the bench, “I don’t recall Lucia ever measuring me.”

“I lent her your clothes one time, and she’s really good at just sizing people up by looking at them,” Galo says blithely, reaching out to help Lio with the papers, “It’s a little freaky sometimes—”

He suddenly pauses, doing a double-take on the papers in his hand and holding them up to Lio, “…why are you looking at one-bedroom apartments? Do you want us to move?”

Lio quickly snatches the listing from Galo’s hand, “I—Galo, I’ve been occupying your space long enough, don’t you think? You probably want your apartment back, and I’ve managed to gather up some savings now—”

“You’re moving  _ out?” _ Galo demands in a horrified tone, staring at Lio. “What— _ why _ ? Is it because I’m too loud? I promise I’ll try to be more quiet—is it the mess? I can clean more, really Lio. I know the heating system isn’t that good, but we did get that space heater so—don’t—don’t go.”

Lio’s brow furrows (shouldn’t Galo be happy to get his space back? This—wasn’t exactly the reaction of a good friend), “Galo—you want me to stay with you? Permanently?”

Galo’s head nods up and down so quickly he slightly blurs, “Yes! Is it the bed, Lio? Is it too lumpy? You don’t have to move to a new apartment for that, we can just get a new one—”

“Galo—do you—do you  _ like _ me?” Lio asks in disbelief.

(No,  _ no way _ .

Galo would have said something by now—)

“Yeah,” Galo says easily.

“As in—romantically?” Lio asks delicately.

“Yeah,” Galo repeats, his brow furrowing. “Isn’t that obvious?”

Lio can feel a headache brewing from the way his temples throb, “ _ No _ because all this time—why didn’t you  _ say  _ anything?”

“You didn’t  _ know _ ?” Galo demands, horrified. “But—but Lucia said I was doing good!”

Lio pinches the bridge of his nose, “You asked  _ Lucia  _ for advice?”

“I asked everyone for advice! Remi said you were really busy, so I shouldn’t bother you too much. And Aina said that you should give gifts to support the person you love, so—did you not like them?” Galo asks anxiously. “I thought you really liked those muffins, and the pizza was pretty good—I know the heater wasn’t the best, but I haven’t done this before, so—”

“I loved all of them,” Lio quickly cuts in before Galo could fret any more. “But—I didn’t realize—why didn’t you just  _ tell  _ me?”

“I wanted to! I was ready with a whole powerpoint and everything, but Ignis was always talking about how hard you were working, Varys said that the ex-Burnish were so lucky to have you still working for them, and—you seemed pretty overwhelmed,” Galo admits sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I thought—I didn’t want to add myself as a burden on top of all that, so I thought I could just—help you out until you maybe had time to think about it?”

Lio’s hand shoots out to grab Galo’s shoulder, and he wrenches him down so that they are seeing eye-to-eye, “Galo. Listen to me very closely.”

“Always,” Galo promises, staring at his mouth.

Lio licks his lips (oh, how he has  _ wanted  _ this), “You could never be a burden. Not to me, and not to anyone. And—I have done nothing in my spare time since the promare  _ but  _ think of what it would be like to be with you.”

Galo’s face lights up as though Lio has told him that he also finds matois awesome, “You— _ really? _ ”

“Really,” Lio promises before jerking him a bit closer, pulling his face down to his, and finally getting to find out what Galo’s mouth feels like against his own.

Galo immediately moves into action, gripping both of his shoulders with his big hands and chasing Lio tongue with his own, and whatever he lacks in technique, he makes up  _ by far _ in enthusiasm.

Lio doesn't think any other kiss he’s shared can compare, and seeing the dopey, dreamy, dumb expression on Galo’s face, Lio smugly thinks Galo is of the same opinion.

(Although—his expression probably mirrors Galo’s right now.)

“That was so much better than our first kiss,” Galo declares, sliding his hands down to encircle Lio’s waist.

“Considering I was completely unconscious for that, I would hope so,” Lio comments, drawing a hand through Galo’s ridiculous hair.

Galo grins at him, pulling him closer, “I was saving your life!”

“Yes, I know. Still—I think we could work on some improvements, don’t you?” Lio smirks, purposefully brushing his hand across his lips.

Galo puffs up, “I can definitely become the best kisser ever!”

Lio laughs, hooking his arms around the back of Galo’s neck (he doesn’t have to be careful about the way he touches Galo now, and the thrill that runs through him is like the first time he managed to form armor out of flame) to pull him down for another kiss.

They’ve ended up on a bench, papers scattered everywhere, Lio helping Galo in his frantic attempt to unbutton Lio’s coat while trying to make sure that their mouths don’t separate, when there’s a slight cough. They manage to pull away from each other, panting, to see Ignis pointedly not looking at them, adjusting his sunglasses awkwardly.

“Very happy for you two, congratulations Galo, but—perhaps you two should get a room?” Ignis asks.

Lio blushes, pulling his coat back together, “Yes—”

“Yessir!” Galo salutes, grabbing Lio’s hand and pulling him along, “Come on Lio, there’s a lot of things I want to try out.”

Lio shakes his head but can’t stop smiling (there’s a lot of things he wants to try out too), and as they’re leaving, Ignis calls out, “Lio.”

They both look back.

Ignis lowers his sunglasses to look Lio in the eye, “Treat him well.”

“I will,” Lio promises, raising his fist to his heart, “I promise.”

(How could he not, this man who he had fought side by side with, who he had lent his own flame to, who he had saved the world with.

Who had saved him when everything had seemed lost and fading away and had proved that there was still some shining goodness in this world.)

Galo wraps his arms around him and kisses his cheek, grinning at Ignis, “Boss, I’ll be fine! And I’m taking my leave now!”

Ignis sighs and waves them off, “I’ll let the rest of the team know not to bother you two. When you come back, you’ll owe us all pizzas.”

“Done!” Galo crows, pulling Lio out of the station. “Lio—do you still want a new apartment?”

“I don’t really care,” Lio says honestly, curling up at Galo’s side, “You’re moving back into your bedroom though.”

“ _ Our  _ bedroom,” Galo emphasizes, slipping an arm around Lio’s waist. “In  _ our  _ apartment.”

Lio hums in acknowledgement, “Then let’s go home,” he says simply, looking up at Galo.

Galo smiles so wide that Lio can see nearly all his teeth, “Yeah! And later I can show you the draft of the powerpoint I made!”

(They only get to that  _ much  _ later, after a sated and cleaned Lio is lazing on the bed watching an energized Galo showing off the holographic slides he had put together.

“You put your love of matois as five slides, and your chest as only one,” Lio complains, lying back on a pillow.

Galo pouts, “Matois are cool! And you’re always complaining about me being shirtless!”

Lio shrugs, “I mean—I definitely don’t mind you being shirtless right now.”

Galo grins, crawling back onto the bed and cuddling Lio into his arms, “Enjoy it as much as you want!”

“Mm,” Lio acknowledges, before flipping around so that Galo is spooning him, “Good night Galo.”

“Good night Lio! Love you!” Galo says, kissing Lio’s ear.

Lio squirms deeper into Galo’s chest, before saying quietly, “Love you too.”)

**Author's Note:**

> What did you guys think? Did you like all of Galo's little gestures? How was the mecha scene? How was the bed-sharing scene (could not resist tossing that in) Did you like the ending? I thought Lio would be a bit unsure of himself after losing his Burnish powers and trying to find his new place in the world. Also, at the start of the fic/end of the movie, Lio has only known Galo for what, like a week? And Galo of course is just trying his best. Please leave comments/kudos!


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